Dmitri Volkov felt untouchable.
The banquet hall was his empire, crystal lights, polished marble, and hundreds of eyes watching him with reverence.
He stood tall, brandy glass raised, grin splitting his face. The air itself hummed with submission.
He had done it.
He had made Montagna bow.
His gaze swept the room, drinking in the disbelief, the whispers. The crowd looked like a sea of stunned faces and at its edge, the Hastings brothers, unmoving, unreadable.
Dmitri’s grin deepened. He turned toward Leonardo, eager to see it, that rare, delicious sight.
Shock. Defeat. Humiliation.
But the expression he met wasn’t fear.
It was a smile.
Slow. Controlled.
A smile that made the air around Leonardo shift, heavier, sharper.
Like the quiet before a storm that could bury empires.
"You’re here, Alessandro."
Leonardo said, his voice smooth, deep, the kind that silenced men without needing to shout.
Dmitri blinked.
Alessandro?
The man beside him, Montagna, lifted his head.
And when he spoke, the floor might as well have split beneath Dmitri’s feet.
"Yes, boss."
The word boss shattered the room.
Gasps rippled like gunfire.
Every family turned, faces draining of color.
The French delegate muttered a curse.
The Japanese heir dropped his glass.
Someone whispered,
"This… this can’t be real."
Dmitri’s mind scrambled to make sense of it.
Boss?
Boss?
Before he could speak, Alessandro stepped slightly aside, eyes never leaving Leonardo.
"The entire place is covered."
His voice was quiet, certain.
And then the sound came, faint movements from every corner. The doors. The balconies.
Men dressed in black emerged from the shadows, coordinated, disciplined, silent.
Not Dmitri’s men.
Not even Montagna’s.
Leonardo’s.
Dmitri’s hand loosened, the brandy slipped from his grip, shattering against marble.
He didn’t notice the splash.
Montagna... no, Alessandro Montagna, turned and bowed his head slightly toward Marcus Hastings.
"Sir."
He said simply.
Marcus inclined his head back, expression calm, the faintest hint of satisfaction ghosting across his features.
Dmitri stared between them, disbelief clawing up his throat.
"What... what’s happening here?"
He demanded, voice breaking the air like a crack of lightning.
YOU ARE READING
Silent Scars
Novela JuvenilAfter enduring years of neglect and cruelty from her mother and stepfather, Ariana's life changes drastically when tragedy brings her under the guardianship of five brothers she's never met and they never even knew they had a sister. For her brother...
